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[I]f fewer bright, ambitious people go into business, economies may suffer. Instead the talent will go increasingly into the public sector, the law, medicine—wh
by sethg 17y ago
[I]f fewer bright, ambitious people go into business, economies may suffer. Instead the talent will go increasingly into the public sector, the law, medicine—which are already bursting with bright people as it is.
This must be some new definition of “suffer” that I was not previously aware of.
- deleted 17y ago[deleted]
- deleted 17y ago[deleted]
- euroclydon 17y agoReally, Think ambulance chasers, class-action specialists, and medical specialists. Why are there so few family practitioners, yet so many specialists.
- philwelch 17y agoMedical specialists make more money. That's a pretty shallow explanation though, because the question is why. Assuming some level of supply and demand still applies to the medical profession, people seem to go to specialists more often than GP's even for things a GP could probably handle. But why do they do that? One possible explanation is that people don't like doctors, so they only go when something is wrong with them, at which point they spend most of their time seeing a specialist for that particular ailment and then forgetting about it. Oh, yeah, liability. A GP can reduce their liability by referring you to someone else pretty often. It's also possible that being a specialist carries other benefits, like prestige and status and personal interest.
- dejb 17y agoWow. So you don't think that the abilities and attitude of business people matter to the economy, even startups? I hope that the potential and actual startups/businesses on this site don't have this attitude. If this was the prevailing attitude then to say the economy would 'suffer' would be an understatement. Whether an MBA improves or signifies ability is another matter entirely.
- dejb 17y agoSo has this place officially turned from being interested internet business into a bunch of whining complainers about 'the system' like reddit? Sad
- scott_s 17y agoNo, I think the parent's point was that if bright people still go into fields that matter, then the economy won't "suffer." Also, the parent joined HN 12 days after you.
- dejb 17y ago> No, I think the parent's point was that if bright people still go into fields that matter, then the economy won't "suffer." So by implication business isn't a field that particularly matters. People passionate about startups just wouldn't agree with that. > Also, the parent joined HN 12 days after you. I was more talking about the voters (both parent up voters and my down voters). Anyone can make a throw away comment but voting patterns say something. It would be really interesting to know the average 'age' of the up-voters and what other posts/comments where correlated. I'm detecting a growing 'arts studenty', anti-capitalist, humanist, complaining sentiment here (i.e. reddit). I'd prefer a community that has a deeper interest in getting stuff done rather than complaining about the 'system'.
- hugh_ 17y agoRight now, I'd say we already have exactly the right number of clever doctors, and far too many clever lawyers.
- jacoblyles 17y agoI think it would be conservative to estimate that millions of jobs and billions of dollars of production are generated regularly from firms founded by "bussinessy" business types. Yesterday I was listening to an interview of an entrepreneur that I admire, and I didn't realize until then that he had an MBA. There are probably tens of thousands of people employed by him. But don't let me get in the way of your prejudices, it's always fun to kick an unpopular person in public for the general amusement.
- sethg 17y agoThe prejudice is not in me, but in the author of the original essay. There are entrepreneurs who have led companies to provide great value for their customers, employees, and stockholders, and entrepreneurs who have led companies straight into the ground. There are doctors who work heroically and insightfully to save lives and there are doctors who are more interested in satisfying their God complex than actually caring for patients. There are lawyers who help right the injustices of the world and lawyers who just look for excuses to run up their bills. I don’t see why we should assume, a priori, that fewer bright and ambitious people in business and more in law or medicine will be a net social loss.